Travels With My Placard: An Inconvenient Two-th

Tuesday was not a good day for traveling with my handicap placard. I stopped by the Gas Station Chicken Store for scratchers, and came out to find myself blocked in! Yes, I could have backed up a full car length, into the area where cars drove out from the gas pumps under the roof in front of the building. But T-Hoe's backup beeper doesn't work, and people these days keep driving behind you, even if they can see that you are actively backing. So I settled down to wait until I was unblocked.

There was a middle-aged man airing up his trailer tires. I waited until he walked around to get back in the truck before taking the picture. I wasn't on a shaming mission, just wanting to show how inconsiderate people are. This guy could have easily parked along the side of the road up there by the dumpster. That FREE AIR hose is plenty long. People do that all the time if both of these spaces are taken. 

They were really close, and that angle was irritating me, complicating my escape. The middle-aged man's ample middle-aged wife was sitting in the truck with her window down. Even though T-Hoe's windows were up, I could hear her when M-A Man got in the truck.

"She took a picture!"

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. But she got out her phone and took a picture! That's just stupid."

Heh, heh. If you don't want your picture taken, don't park like a rumpushole!

From there, I headed over to the Sis-Town Country Mart to get some soda for Hick, and some fried chicken which they did not have. Anyhoo... when I got there, ALL FIVE of the handicap spaces were taken. TAKEN! Like the seats Elaine was trying to save for Jerry and George and Kramer. Except instead of being empty, these spaces were full.

I drove down into the lot to sit for a minute. One car started backing out, so I pulled up, ready to cross over the drive that is actually a street with a stop sign. But the minute that car got out of the way, another car that had been waiting at the stop sign whipped into it! That was annoying. I was pretty sure I had more insurance, but I couldn't guarantee that I was older. So I refrained from giving it a Kathy-Bates-Fried-Green-Tomatoes ramming.

Had to park way down in the lot, to be near the cart return. No way was I going to park closer, then have to take a cart to the return and walk back to T-Hoe. You can't just leave a cart on that sloping lot.

Of course when I got back and unloaded my groceries into T-Hoe's rear, there were two handicap spaces open, and another car backing out. Too late for me! Who knew that 2:30 on a Tuesday was prime time for the elderlies to be out and about with their placards? Not this old Val. It wasn't even the beginning of the weekly sales, which is on Wednesdays.